


I Don't Need Saving

by ScotlandEvander



Series: Over the Rainbow [30]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScotlandEvander/pseuds/ScotlandEvander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One minute, the flat was quiet— the only noise coming from the television and the scratching of the chosen writing instrument Atlanta was using while she was doing whatever at the dining room table. The next, there was a loud crack, Atlanta screamed, and the whole flat was filled with a blaring, jarring, ear bursting alarm. Lights even began flashing. Sirius vaulted out of his seat, wand drawn and ready to attack whatever the hell was attacking the flat. </p><p>“Kreacher!” Atlanta shrieked.</p><p>Sure enough, Kreacher was standing on the other side of the table, opposite Atlanta.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Don't Need Saving

**Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it.**

* * *

Everything always happened at once. Nothing ever happened in stages. 

Sirius should have remembered that was how life worked. 

He didn’t, so it was a bit of a shock when all hell broke loose one night. 

One minute, the flat was quiet— the only noise coming from the television and the scratching of the chosen writing instrument Atlanta was using while she was doing whatever at the dining room table. The next, there was a loud crack, Atlanta screamed, and the whole flat was filled with a blaring, jarring, ear bursting alarm. Lights even began flashing. Sirius vaulted out of his seat, wand drawn and ready to attack whatever the hell was attacking the flat. 

“Kreacher!” Atlanta shrieked.

Sure enough, Kreacher was standing on the other side of the table, opposite Atlanta. He looked worse for wear and proceeded to topple over. Sirius barely had time to take this in, due to the flashing lights and ear shattering, high pitched, screeching noise. Atlanta catapulted over the table, landing next to Kreacher. 

“What happened? Why are you here?” she shouted at the elf on the floor as Sirius moved to stand next to her, his wand now pointed at his family’s crotchety, old House Elf. 

“Master Regulus told Kreacher to hide so no one can find him. No one finds Miss Addy,” Krecaher croaked out. 

“ATLANTA!” Sirius shouted over the noise of the alarm, putting his hand over his ears before his brain melted and oozed out. 

“What is going on out here?!” Tom demanded appearing in the doorway to the entry.

“Oh, alarm.”

Atlanta waved her wand and the noise ceased, but the lights continued to flash.

“What is that?” Tom asked, taking a few steps further into the room. He looked confused, as if he had never seen a House Elf before. 

Sirius stared at the dirty elf, taking a few steps towards Kreacher. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. 

Kreacher sat up, staring at Sirius with loathing, but refrained from saying anything. Oddly. The ugly Elf looked smug about it as well. 

“Regulus is here,” Atlanta said as if it happened daily.

“WHAT?” Sirius yelled while Kreacher began to wail all of a sudden. 

Tom made a noise of disgust, threw his arms up and stalked out of the room. 

“Reggie has always been able to find me,” Atlanta admitted. At the look on Sirius’s face, she added, “But, the Death Eaters and Moldy can’t find me.” 

“But, they know how to disable the Death Eater wards!” Sirius shouted.

“I’m my own Secret Keeper you moron!” Atlanta shouted. “Calm the hell down, Sirius.”

Kreacher began to mutter under his breath, but never loud enough for Sirius to understand. Sirius balled his fists but refrained from shouting at Atlanta, who stood up and went over to the window. She peered out the window. She sighed deeply.

“Kreacher, please go in the, uh, closet,” Atlanta said. 

Without pause, Kreacher stood up and vanished into a small doorway off the dinning area. 

“You have a House Elf housing?” Sirius yelled.

“Sure,” she said, but didn’t offer any other explanation. She was still staring out the window. Looking at the tiny door he’d never noticed before, he figured she did not have a House Elf, as it seemed Tom had never seen one before. 

Sirius crossed the room and joined her. Sure enough, his younger brother was pacing back and forth in front of the building. He appeared agitated and jumpy. Even from a distance, Regulus looked unhealthy. Next to Sirius, Atlanta sighed deeply again, rubbing her left arm absently. 

“Do you have any idea what the hell is going on? Since when was your flat under a Fidlius Charm?”

“Since I moved in,” she replied. “Only you, Remus and Lily actually know where I live. Hence the House Elf housing. One of the Hogwarts Elves does all the shopping for me and I made sure he or she had a place to sleep if needed. I don’t leave the flat unless I have to. No one can see me except Tom, you, Remus, Dumbledore, the Potters and Pettigrew. I put myself under the Fidlius Charm after we graduated, remember?”

“So you’re double protected?” Sirius asked, having forgotten she’d placed herself under the charm. 

She nodded her head. 

“Can Regulus see you if you go out there?”

“No. He won’t be able to see me. He’ll know I’m there. And he can hear me. Anyone can hear me.”

“He can’t see the building?”

“I don’t think he knows how to even get into the building,” Atlanta commented. “Muggle things confused most wizards. The entrance is very Muggle. The first time they came here, they did blast down the door, but after that they couldn’t find me. I only put the flat under the charm, not the whole building. Since he’s not blasting down the door, I have a feeling he’s not here to attack.”

“You’ve had Death Eaters attack you here?” 

“They’ve tried. They have failed,” she said flippantly. “Lily, Tom and I are currently working on a charm like the Muggle Repellant charm that would work on wizards. We’re going to test it on the flat in a few weeks. That’ll repel Death Eaters from the entire building like we wizards repel Muggles from places like the Leaky Cauldron.” 

Without another word, she Apparated. Sirius saw her popped into existence right in front of Regulus. He must have heard the pop as his brother jumped ten feet into the air. Sirius could tell his brother’s eyes were darting around, looking for Atlanta. Regulus couldn’t see her, but his eyes settled on the space right in front of him where Atlanta was standing with her arms folded, a guarded expression on her face. 

Sirius opened the window, training his wand at his brother. Since he was in the secret protected flat, he wasn’t worried about Regulus seeing him hanging out the window casting a eavesdropping spell. 

“He turned up?”

Sirius almost fell out the window at Tom’s question. Sirius didn’t bother to answer, but held his wand to his lips and then pointed it back at Regulus. He felt the magic that made up Tom lean closer to hear what Sirius was hearing.  

“Atlanta?” Regulus asked, in a rather high voice.

“Here.”

Regulus sighed, relaxing a bit. He took a step closer to where she was standing, coming to rest just inches away from her. Atlanta tensed up, but Regulus sighed and relief seeped into his body language. 

“I’m just going to talk to you,” he said, then began whispering quickly. 

Sirius leaned out the window to hear better, but he couldn’t make out anything Regulus was saying. Recasting the charm, all he could hear was buzzing. He looked to Tom, who shrugged, suggested a few spells, but the buzzing kept happening. The pair gave up and took to simply watching. 

Whatever Regulus was saying was causing Atlanta to smile. She nodded a few times, before remembering he couldn’t see her. She began to whisper to Regulus, leaning in closer to his brother’s ear. Sirius noticed when she did this, Regulus closed his eyes, clearly feeling her even if he couldn’t see her. Regulus nodded a few times as she whispered at him. He reached out blindly and managed to find her forearm. He gripped it. Atlanta bent her head till it rested on Regulus’ shoulder. 

“Kreacher is with you?” Regulus asked, the buzzing suddenly stopping. 

Once again, Sirius almost fell out the window. Oddly, Tom attempted to grab him, as the cold, shivery feeling of Tom’s hands going through Sirius sent shivers down his spine. 

“Yes. He showed up moments before you did,” Atlanta replied in a normal voice.

Regulus dropped her arm and Atlanta lifted her head. They both took a step backwards.  

“He will stay till I need him…then, may he return?”

“What about your mother?”

“There are other House Elves to care for her and father,” Regulus said. “I do not want him there. I want to leave him to you. Please.”

“All right,” Atlanta agreed. “I don’t like your plan.”

“That no longer matters. I know what I am doing.”

“But—” Atlanta started, but stopped. 

“It’s a lifetime commitment, Addy,” Regulus said, hanging his head. 

Atlanta took her wand out. She rocked back and forth, debating something for a moment, while Regulus brooded. She reached forward and took his hand. Regulus’ head jerked up. She pressed her wand to his wrist, muttering something. Regulus glowed bright blue for a moment, though it didn’t seem he noticed this. The blue light sucked into him, then poured into her wand, channeling itself into her hand, settling at a point in her left wrist. 

“Well, I wish you luck, Reggie,” Atlanta said quietly, squeezing his hand.

“I wish I could see you,” he said sadly. 

She lifted his hand and placed it on her face. Sirius, feeling that Regulus wasn’t about to do anything stupid, cast his eyes away from the pair, shutting the window. Tom made some sort of noise that was between a huff and snort. He stalked silently back out of the lounge. Sirius heard him slam a door in the back of the flat. A moment later there was a soft pop and Atlanta appeared back in the flat. She stared at her wrist for a moment. The bright blue dot on her wrist blinked for awhile until it turned black.

“He’s home,” she replied.

“What did you to do him?”

“Placed a tracking charm Tom and I created on him. We haven’t tested it out yet,” she admitted. “But since he’s…well, it doesn’t matter. I can’t tell you. He doesn’t want you in danger.”

“But, he put you in danger?”

“No. He didn’t. He didn’t tell me exactly what he was doing. I _know_. Or have an inkling.  Somehow, tonight the memory charm Dumbledore put on him a few years ago broke. Though, he didn’t tell me it broke. Or maybe— never mind. Dumbledore forbade me to speak of it in front of people,” she explained. “The one time I did, he wiped Regulus’ memory of it.”

She let out a puff of air. She stopped staring at her wrist and pursed her lips together. She put on Think Face and Sirius knew he’d lost her to her thoughts. He wanted to scream and shout at her. His brother was in danger. He could feel it in his bones, Reggie was in danger. He was leaving the Death Eaters and he was going to his death and knew it.

“He came to say goodbye,” Sirius realized, sitting down hard on the couch. 

Kreacher was the ONLY thing Regulus cared about (other than Atlanta) and he’d willed him to Atlanta. From Kreacher’s behavior, the House Elf now belonged to Atlanta. 

“He is not going to die,” Atlanta suddenly said. “I’m going to save him. I don’t know how, but I’ll save him.”

Sirius turned around, taking the fierce look on her face. She was going to do something really stupid, that much Sirius was sure of. 

“And you? Who is going to save you?”

The words hung in the air between them. Her face softened a bit. She put that damn crooked smile on her face (which made his heart tug in his chest so hard he thought he was going to burst into tears) and said, “I’m the hero, Sirius. I don’t need to be saved.” 


End file.
